From mmm+@andrew.cmu.edu Thu Apr 29 00:27:48 1999
Date: Fri, 31 Jan 1997 00:12:50 -0500
From: Matthew M Mckeon <mmm+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.gothic
Subject: Re: Head Explody


elly@arch.housing.wisc.edu (-eloquence-) writes:
> 
>        Yes, but say that that spoiled brat with the broken nail has never
> experienced anything worse... her life has been comfy-cozy and her parents
> are somehow together and happy and her life idyllic... then something like
> her pony getting sick or her nail breaking IS the worst thing that's 
> happened to her. No, it's not equal to death, but it is the worst that
> she's known... and so to her, it does equal the loss.

	Hmmm... elly, you know I love you dearly, but 
	that is relativistic bullshit. An emotionally mature
	individual should at _least_ be able to achieve enough
	detachment to recognize the difference between the death of 
	a close friend and the death of a puppy, even if
	he or she has never experienced the former. 
	
> To the newlywed widow, this pain is the worst she's known... it's
> hard to explain, but I think the main thing that Aaron is trying to
> get across is that it's okay for a person to think that things are
> terrible... 

	True. However, they should know at what point 
	their grief crosses over from justified to selfish. 
	Someone may lament all they like, but in my mind
	believing that your pain at not getting that pony is 
	worse than losing your parents is remarkably silly.
	There _are_ absolutes to woe. 

> I've been going through some serious crap that I can't deal with
> lately but at the same time, it's not as though my parents have
> died, I have a serious illness, or other horrible things. Sometimes
> it's hard to believe that your own pain matters when there are so
> many others suffering more than you are. But what Aaron's saying is
> that your suffering, though it may not be over things as terrible as
> others', is still important. Something that I have a hard time
> remembering...

	Good. Very well and good. But don't let suffering rule
	your life! Xrist, I enjoy suffering just as much as the
	next SKIB. There's nothing quite so lovely or therapeutic
	as a good, week-long, stay-in-bed-24-7 crushing anorexic
	black-shrouded -=mope=-. I'm indulging in one at the moment.
	But when you let the allure of romantic depression lead
	you into consistent self-deprivation, you're refusing to 
	plunge into the _total_ passion of existence. And I thought
	_that_ was what we accuse the norms of doing. 

	och. sorry, luv. Got meself a bit carried away there. :)
	Anyway, I hope you get the point. Some situations are
	just quantatatively less shitty than others, and should
	be given no more than their proper due. 

>                             -eloquence-

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